FIRST LOOK: Abit Fatal1ty AA8XE

Our Take

Abit and Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel have partnered to produce what is arguably the fastest Intel gaming motherboard that you can buy. We say "arguably" because there are other 925XE boards in the lab that do offer additional features or capabilities. However, there is no denying the incredible array of tweaking controls with broad ranges that are available on Fatal1ty. For gaming and overclocking, the AA8XE was a joy to use. It is a fast Intel board that was also remarkably stable in every thing that we attempted in out tests.

It is hard also to not be impressed by the fact that we reached a new overclocking record FSB with the Fatal1ty board of 323X12. Keep this in perspective, however, as our starting point was 266 and the overclock was really 21%. Tests with the 800FSB Prescott were also impressive, although we could go no further with our 14 multiplier Prescott than we had achieved on the 925X Asus P5AD2 in the past. We are confident that the board can do it; we just couldn't find a Prescott with multipliers lower than 14.

We have already seen a few incredible overclocks with water and phase-change cooling with the new 3.46EE. For those inclined to use more exotic cooling, this board would be a great choice for your P4 system. But CPU blocks may be a challenge with the good-looking, but constricting, OTES cooling shroud.

In addition, the Abit Fatal1ty is undeniably impressive in the "looks" department. Owners will get lots of "wows" with the red backlighting. The board certainly looks the part of the best gaming board that you can buy. We would even be inclined to say that Fatal1ty could well be the best INTEL gaming board which you can currently buy, as it's extremely flexible and stable. If you insist on an Intel board for your gaming rig, this is certainly one you need to consider. But that is where our praise would end.

While we might agree that the Abit Fatal1ty AA8XE is possibly PC gaming hardware without equal among Intel boards, the claim that it is a gaming board without equal is laughable. The execution is impressive, but the choice of gaming platform is not. Frankly, the FX55 and 4000+ on the nForce4 wipe the floor with the Fatal1ty/3.46EE in gaming performance. Abit and Fatal1ty simply started with the wrong gaming platform. We'd love to see what they can do with an nForce4 or ATI RADEON Xpress 200 design, as it would probably be the best gaming rig that you can buy.

If your thoughts about gaming performance begin and end with Intel, then the Abit Fatal1ty is very easy to recommend. Many buyers will only consider Intel, and for them, this is a fantastic board. It is solid, stable, wonderfully flexible, and an outstanding performer compared to other Intel boards. But if you really want the best gaming performance that you can buy today, then a top Socket 939 Athlon 64 system should be your choice.

The Fatal1ty AA8XE is the first product in the Fatal1ty line. Abit tells us they will release an Athlon 64 Fatal1ty board called the AN8 in December. It will be very interesting to see what Fatal1ty and Abit can accomplish with that board!